Will the Real Baby Please...Bark?

Tutu Cute!

Lula loves her tutu! And she is just too too cute as she goes about her normal routine of destruction.

Wedged behind the (old) TV-on purpose!

Sitting on the window sill

Sitting on the Doberman

Snuggling with Daniel

Queen of the Remote Control

Looking for a few more stitches

A Quick Nap

Boots.  Tutu Cute!

Down for the night

We watched Jurassic Park 2 tonight.  Lula is scared of the dinosaurs, but she has to watch.  I tried to help her cover her eyes or hide under the blanket, but she insisted on watching and holding on to my arm.

The Heidi Rules

To have a happy baby, I must...

1. Never feed her formula

2. Never eat beans, chocolate, or dairy.  NEVER!

3. Change diapers immediately

4. Stay constantly moving while holding her in a face-out position

She also doesn't like sitting in front of the computer, so I guess I'll see ya later!

Cuties at Bedtime

Lula threw the cutest temper tantrum last night.  All I did was change her diaper!  This is a sweet (edited) picture of her screaming in the corner of the kitchen and stamping her feet.  The curls/stamping chubby legs/tutu combination just about killed me with its cuteness.

After I found her pacifier and calmed her down, I went downstairs and found this:

Evie, covered in sleeping siblings, with a sleepy dog at her feet.  Is there really anything cuter?  My heart gets all warm and fuzzy whenever I see a big pile of brothers and sisters doing things together.  Last night they were all piled up on the couch watching Ian play Zelda on the Wii U.

Rainy Daze

For some reason, I couldn't sleep last night.  Today I am a mom-bie (instead of a zombie).

Same blue eyes, same vacant expression, yep, brothers.

The kids have way more energy than I do (or I should say did-I went and took a nice long nap with the two babies this afternoon).

It has been raining and raining and raining and our pasture has filled with giant puddles.  It's great weather...if you're a duck!

Picture courtesy of Evie

Evie took the camera out for awhile, trying to get pictures of the ducks before the dogs chased them off.

Evie

Ian

Fiona

Spring is getting closer and closer.....

Camp Sheppard

Earlier this year, Shane worked really hard selling Cub Scout popcorn.  He earned a few prizes.  One was paying his dues for the year.  Another was a remote control car that was such low quality one of the front wheels wouldn't turn.  And the big prize, for us Downens, was a trip to Camp Sheppard for a winter camp out.

For most of the weekend, the weather was grey, wet, and rainy.  Some of the boys, who have looked forward to sledding all year, went home defeated.  Mark cheered Shane by teaching that although we look forward to certain things in life, many times we are disappointed.  This is when we need to find enjoyment in what we do have.  They enjoyed hiking, photography, and maps and compassing, as well as arts and crafts.  Their perseverance rewarded them with snowfall the last day they were there!

Shane got to go sledding after all!  There were two other boys on the hill that had the exact jacket as Shane, so Mark got some good pictures of other boys too... I could see that many moms shop at Costco for jackets!

Shane also got to participate in a chess tournament! We don't have access to a chess club or tournaments way out where we live, so this was so fun for him.  He made it to the semi-finals! 

This is what Shane says about his weekend:

"I had so much fun". I got to sled down the hill 13 times!"

The Daily Daniel

I've just now decided that I'm going to have to post a "Daily Daniel."  I usually just do a quick post on Facebook, but it will all be lost someday and hopefully this blog won't.  It is one of my dreams to have the blog printed in book format... But anyway, Daniel is very funny and quite smart, so instead of always complaining about how defiant he is, I'll try to include those times where he makes me laugh until my side hurts or makes me shake my head in amazement.

One day last week, he insisted he needed a vitamin.  The container was brand new and I was busy, so I said, "Sure! If you can get it open, you can have one." Because guess what? The container had a childproof lid on it!  Ian laughed and pointed out that this was Daniel we were talking about; he could probably get the lid off.  This was a good time to reminisce about the time in the car when Daniel shouted, "My name is Daniel O'Niall Downen! Call me Daniel!" but what we heard, thanks to his baby talk was, "My name is Daniel! Kneel down and call me Daniel!"  By the time I was done telling the story, Daniel had the lid off the vitamins, much to everyone's amusement.

Thursday, the first thing out of Daniel's mouth was, "Can I play video games? Can I get on the computer with Evie and make a two-player game?" I told him he would have to be a good listener and say "Yes, Mom," all day and THEN he could play tonight during scouts. He then climbed into my lap and started saying, "Yes, Mom. Yes, Mom. Yes, Mom. Yes, Mom." over and over and over in my ear. Then he said, "Now your ears are full of Yes Mom for the day. Can I play now?" 

Yesterday, he was caught filling a water gun with lawn fertilizer and was upset that he was prevented from "killin' spiders on the ceiling." I explained that lawn fertilizer wasn't safe to play with, but he already knew that. That's why he was going to kill the spider on the ceiling with it.  Mark is going to have to make sure the carport is poison free from now on...

Also last week, Daniel was very angry at Shane.  I had to say, "Daniel, let's think of some other words that you can use in the place of butt. Like hindquarters...say, 'I'm going to kick your hindquarters,' instead."  Daniel, glaring at Shane, said, "I'm going to kick your hind...coins!?!"  

I know a handful of people that also have three year old boys and are tearing their hair out about them.  I think there needs to be a special club, just for moms of three year old boys.  They can drop their boys off wearing special vests made out of velcro in a sound proof room that has velcro walls.  The boys can stick to the walls while the moms drink coffee just outside. Yep.